Survivor Series 1987
Survivor Series 1987 was the first Survivor Series pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). It took place on Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 1987 and was held at the Richfield Coliseum in Richfield, Ohio. The main event was a Survivor Series match where André the Giant's team defeated Hulk Hogan's team when André eliminated Hogan's last team member Bam Bam Bigelow to become the first sole survivor in the history of Survivor Series. The entire undercard featured Survivor Series matches which included Randy Savage's team defeating The Honky Tonk Man's team and The Fabulous Moolah's team defeating Sensational Sherri's team. The event also featured a 10 tag team elimination match in which Strike Force and their teammates defeated The Hart Foundation's team. Background The main feud heading into Survivor Series included André the Giant, One Man Gang, King Kong Bundy, Butch Reed and Rick Rude against Hulk Hogan, Paul Orndorff, Don Muraco, Ken Patera and Bam Bam Bigelow. In January 1987, Hogan was awarded a trophy for his third year as WWF Champion while Hogan's best friend André was awarded a smaller trophy than Hogan's, for being undefeated in WWF for 15 years. Hogan congratulated his friend and said that André was the real champion of superstars all around the world. André surprisingly left the place before Hogan could even finish. In February, he came with a new manager Bobby Heenan. When Hogan came to know about that, he begged André not to keep Heenan as his manager because Heenan was Hogan's longtime enemy. André said that he had come to challenge Hogan for the WWF title at WrestleMania. He ripped off Hogan's Hulkamania shirt and golden chain, turning heel. This culminated in their historic match at WrestleMania III, where Hogan defeated André to retain the title. During the match, he set a record by scoop slamming the 520-pound Frenchman. On August 22, 1987 edition of Prime Time Wrestling, Paul Orndorff fired Bobby Heenan as his manager when he came to know that Heenan had brought in a new wrestler Rick Rude to replace Orndorff. Orndorff appointed Oliver Humperdink as his manager to feud with Rude. Billy Graham got involved in a feud with Butch Reed, culminating in a match between the duo. One Man Gang interfered in a match where he hit Graham with a big splash on the concrete floor. Don Muraco came to the rescue of Graham and Graham who was scheduled to participate in the main event of the first-ever Survivor Series retired due to an attack by One Man Gang. Muraco replaced him. Ken Patera got involved in a feud with Bobby Heenan and The Heenan Family and turned babyface, and was chosen to be the fourth member on Hogan's team. Many heel managers wanted to manage Bam Bam Bigelow, but Bigelow chose Oliver Humperdink as his manager thus making his WWF debut as a babyface. He also became a part of Hogan's team. Randy Savage had been a heel since his WWF debut in the summer of 1985. He turned babyface in late 1987, after WWF Intercontinental Champion The Honky Tonk Man claimed to be the greatest Intercontinental Champion. This led to a feud between Savage and Honky, leading to Savage's face turn. On October 3, 1987 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, Savage challenged Honky for the title winning by disqualification. The title remained with Honky because a title cannot change hands by a DQ. Harley Race had won the 1986 King of the Ring tournament and was so proud about this that he called himself King Harley Race and wore a crown and cape to the ring. Jim Duggan did not agree with the fact and this placed Duggan and Race into a feud, with Duggan winning most of the matches. Jake Roberts also feuded with Honky Tonk Man after Honky hit a guitar on Roberts on an edition of Snake Pit, completing Roberts' babyface turn. A match was booked for Survivor Series featuring Savage, Roberts, Ricky Steamboat, Brutus Beefcake and Duggan against Honky, Hercules, Danny Davis, Ron Bass and Race. The major ongoing tag team feud pitted the face Strike Force and the villainous Hart Foundation. Tito Santana and Rick Martel formed Strike Force in the summer of 1987 after Santana rescued Martel from a beating by The Islanders. Strike Force quickly became a top contender for the WWF Tag Team Championship, held by the Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart), and on October 28, 1987, Strike Force won the titles when Neidhart was trapped in Martel's Boston crab Event The first match of the first-ever Survivor Series was the first-ever Survivor Series elimination match. Randy Savage, Jake Roberts, Ricky Steamboat, Brutus Beefcake and Jim Duggan faced WWF Intercontinental Champion The Honky Tonk Man, Hercules, Danny Davis, Ron Bass and Harley Race. Savage's team was seconded by his wife Miss Elizabeth while Honky's team was seconded by Bobby Heenan and Jimmy Hart. Duggan and Race brawled to the outside where both men were counted out and both of them were eliminated, leaving 4 men on each team. Beefcake hit a knee lift on Bass, and went on to eliminate him as Savage's team had 4 men while Honky's team had 3 men. Team captain Honky himself joined the match and hit a Shake, Rattle and Roll on Beefcake and eliminated him. 3 men were on each sides. Roberts hit a DDT on Davis and only 2 men remained in Honky's team, Honky and Hercules while Savage's team was still having 3 men. Savage hit a Savage Elbow on Hercules and pinned him with Honky remaining the only member in his team. After he found out that he was the only team member, he left the ring and got counted-out, thus eliminating himself in the process; however, this did not come before Savage, Roberts and Steamboat each took turns beating on Honky. Savage, Roberts and Steamboat became the survivors of the match. The next match was a women's match featuring the team of The Fabulous Moolah, Rockin' Robin, Velvet McIntyre and The Jumping Bomb Angels (Itsuki Yamazaki and Noriyo Tateno) against WWF Women's Champion Sensational Sherri, WWF Women's Tag Team Champions The Glamour Girls (Leilani Kai and Judy Martin), Donna Christanello and Dawn Marie. McIntyre did the first elimination by pinning Christanello with a victory roll. Robin hit a running crossbody on Marie and pinned her with the crossbody, leading to three wrestlers on Sherri's team while none of Moolah's team members had been eliminated. Team captain Sherri came into the match and hit Robin with a vertical suplex to eliminate her. Glamour Girls hit a double clothesline on Moolah and Judy Martin, one half of Glamour Girls pinned Moolah to eliminate her. McIntyre pinned Sherri with a victory roll pin, with Moolah's team having 3 members and Sherri's team having Glamour Girls, only 2 members. Leilani Kai joined the match and then pinned McIntyre after an electric chair drop. Yamazaki hit a diving crossbody from the top rope on Kai and pinned her to eliminate her. Tateno hit a flying clothesline on Martin and pinned her to win the match. Jumping Bomb Angels became the sole survivors for Moolah's team. The third match was a tag team variation of the Survivor Series match with 10 tag teams. If a person from a tag team was eliminated, their partner was also eliminated. The match featured WWF Tag Team Champions Strike Force (Tito Santana and Rick Martel), The Young Stallions (Paul Roma and Jim Powers), The Fabulous Rougeaus (Jacques and Raymond), The Killer Bees (Jim Brunzell and Brian Blair) and British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid) against The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart), The Islanders (Haku and Tama), Demolition (Ax and Smash), The Bolsheviks (Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov) and The New Dream Team (Greg Valentine and Dino Bravo). Santana hit a flying forearm smash on Zhukov and pinned him to eliminate Bolsheviks for the first elimination of the match. Jacques hit a diving crossbody on Ax but missed the move and was pinned by Ax, eliminating Fabulous Rougeaus. Ax's partner Smash was disqualified, eliminating Demolition. Neidhart pinned Santana to eliminate Strike Force and Haku pinned Dynamite Kid to eliminate British Bulldogs. Next came Roma and Valentine. Roma hit a diving sunset flip on Valentine to eliminate The New Dream Team. Bret Hart and Jim Brunzell were next. Tama dropkicked Hart and then Brunzell rolled over Hart to eliminate Hart Foundation. The referee gave his attention to the Harts, who had been eliminated. Brian Blair put on his Killer Bees mask and pinned Tama with a sunset flip to eliminate Islanders. As a results, Young Stallions and Killer Bees won the match and became survivors for their team. The main event was a Survivor Series match where André the Giant, One Man Gang, King Kong Bundy, Butch Reed and Rick Rude faced WWF Champion Hulk Hogan, Paul Orndorff, Don Muraco, Ken Patera and Bam Bam Bigelow. Muraco was not scheduled to compete in the match but replaced "Superstar" Billy Graham, who was originally scheduled to be Hogan's teammate but retired because of his hip injury suffered during a match against Reed. Hogan did the first elimination after he hit a leg drop on Reed and pinned him to eliminate him. At this point, André entered the ring to attempt to sneak attack Hogan while he was celebrating with his teammates; Hogan was initially startled when he saw André, but then wanted to wrestle him. However, the referee said that as Hogan was high-fiving his teammates, he had made a legal tag to Patera and ordered Hogan out of the ring. André decided he didn't want to wrestle Patera and tagged in One Man Gang, who eventually hit a 747 Splash to eliminate Patera. Rude and Orndorff were next, who were having their personal problems due to who Bobby Heenan would manage. Orndorff had got the better of Rude until Bundy distracted him and Rude rolled up Orndorff to eliminate him. Muraco joined the match and powerslammed Rude to eliminate him. One Man Gang entered to take on Muraco, setting up his elimination by whipping him into an André headbutt before hitting the 747 Splash for the pin.That left André's team with a 3-on-2 advantage. Bigelow held his own against Bundy and Gang, but they eventually wore him down, and eventually, Gang tagged in André to finish off a beaten Bigelow, but Bigelow ducked André's punch and tagged in Hogan for the long-awaited confrontation. Hogan dominated André, blocking a headbutt and rattling him with chops, until Bundy tripped up Hogan (as Hogan was preparing to clothesline André and knock him out of the ring); Hogan dominated Bundy and One Man Gang outside the ring, but in the distraction he was counted out of the ring. Hogan was ordered to leave the ring immediately or Bigelow – the last remaining member of the face team – would be disqualified and the match awarded to André's team. Bigelow fended for himself, beating Bundy with relative ease by htting a Slingshot for the elimination, but began to get worn down by Gang; however, Bigelow was able to move out of the way of Gang's 747 Splash and set him up for the pin. However, Bigelow's luck ran out, as André battered Bigelow before hitting a butterfly suplex to win the match. After the match, Hogan ran out to ringside and hit André with his title WWF World Heavyweight Championship belt, knocking him out of the ring. Hogan celebrated in the ring as André demanded a match for the title. Results ; ; *Brutus Beefcake, Jake Roberts, Jim Duggan, Randy Savage (w/ Miss Elizabeth) and Ricky Steamboat defeated Danny Davis, Harley Race (w/ Bobby Heenan), Hercules, Ron Bass and The Honky Tonk Man (w/ Jimmy Hart) (16:19) *Rockin' Robin, The Fabulous Moolah, The Jumping Bomb Angels (Itsuki Yamazaki and Noriyo Tateno) and Velvet McIntyre defeated Dawn Marie, Donna Christianello, Sensational Sherri and The Glamour Girls (Judy Martin and Leilani Kai) (w/ Jimmy Hart) (20:10) *Strike Force (Rick Martel and Tito Santana), The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid), The Fabulous Rougeaus (Jacques Rougeau and Ray Rougeau), The Killer Bees (B. Brian Blair and Jim Brunzell) and The Young Stallions (Jim Powers and Paul Roma) defeated Demolition (Ax and Barry Darsow), (w/ Mr. Fuji), The Bolsheviks (Boris Zhukov and Nikolai Volkoff) (w/ Slick), The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) (w/ Jimmy Hart), The Islanders (Haku and Tama) (w/ Bobby Heenan) and The Dream Team (Dino Bravo and Greg Valentine) (w/ Johnny V) (37:00) *Andre the Giant, Butch Reed, King Kong Bundy, One Man Gang and Rick Rude (w/ Bobby Heenan and Slick) defeated Bam Bam Bigelow (w/ Oliver Humperdink), Don Muraco, Hulk Hogan, Ken Patera and Paul Orndorff (22:00) Survivor Series elimination matches 1 2 3 4 Other on-screen talent Also See *List of WWE pay-per-view events *WWE Event History *Survivor Series DVD & Video Releases * Tagged Classics - Survivor Series 1987 / 1988 DVD External Links * Official Website * on WWE Network * Survivor Series 1987 at CAGEMATCH.net * Survivor Series 1987 at Online World of Wrestling Category:World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events Category:Survivor Series Category:1987 pay-per-view events